Alligator Caught in Local Canal

Joe Wheelis

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, October 18, 2005

An alligator in the North Channel Area? Residents living off I-10, around Greens Bayou and Normandy, reported first seeing the gator Oct. 10. Lupe Zaval, a maintenance man at the La Fiesta apartments saw it in the canal near the 12000 block of Market Street.

"I was first going to try and get him until I saw how big he was," Zaval said. The gator, at first estimated to be 8 to 9 feet long, had been swimming up and down the canal for several days.

"As soon as Lupe told me about the alligator, I called the police. They told me I would have to contact the game warden at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission (TPWC)," said Beatrice Oliza, manager of the La Fiesta Apartments.

Misty Pizano, a resident of the apartment complex, also contacted TPWC. "They told me they would have to put it on the back burner," Pizano said.

On Wednesday, the game warden, assisted by several Houston policemen, were at the canal trying to capture the gator.

For more than an hour the men tried to fish the gator out, but each time they thought they had him, the old gator would spit the bait out.

Finally, the alligator swam under the bridge at I-10 and eluded the hunters. Realizing there was no way to safely get the gator from under the bridge, the men gave up to come back another day.

And come back they did. On Thursday afternoon, Tom Holland, an independent trapper, using chicken bait on a dowel, made the catch. The gator weighed approximately 250 pounds, and measured 10 feet in length.

This was not the first time Houston area citizens have reported alligator sightings.

Last July, several residents living in east Harris County near Lake Houston, reported seeing alligators, and game wardens have caught alligators near Uvalde Road, in Baytown, and in Lake Houston.

Texas Parks and Wildlife receives about 30 gator reports per month.

Individuals who see alligators are urged to use common sense. Don't try to capture it. Call TPWC 281-842-8100.